Transfigurations

Welcome to Transfigurations! This blog is intended to serve the orthodox Anglican community and the wider Christian community. We pray that all that is posted here will be faithful to the Scriptures as the inspired word of God, speak the truth in love, edify, bless and transform this local body of Christ, and be an impetus for revival, repentance, prayer and intercession!

Monday, June 30, 2014

Excerpt:
...Today’s decision is yet another repudiation of the heavy-handed and blatantly unconstitutional overreach of President Barack Obama and his administration. The President could have covered contraception and birth control under any number of other means which would not have specifically targeted religious liberty. Instead, the Obama Administration appeared to take the route most likely to trample upon religious liberty and offend Christian conscience. Today’s decision is another rebuke of the President and his approach, coming just days after a set of cases in which his arguments were repudiated by the same court in 9-0 decisions.

Furthermore, the President faces the looming threat of even greater rebukes to come. His administration continues to violate the convictions of Christian non-profit organizations and ministries on the same grounds. He faces lawsuits coming from a massive collection of religious non-profit ministries, ranging from evangelical colleges and universities to the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic charity. Today’s decision makes the victory of those groups very likely.

The majority opinion handed down today makes several important points worthy of close attention... the restimage

Facebook Manipulated User News Feeds To Create Emotional Responses

Gregory S. McNeal
6/28/2014

Facebook conducted a massive psychological experiment on 689,003 users, manipulating their news feeds to assess the effects on their emotions. The details of the experiment were published in an article entitled “Experimental Evidence Of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion Through Social Networks” published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

The short version is, Facebook has the ability to make you feel good or bad, just by tweaking what shows up in your news feed.

The experiment tested whether emotional contagion occurs between individuals on Facebook, a question the authors (a Facebook scientist and two academics) tested by using an automated system to reduce the amount of emotional content in Facebook news feeds. The authors found that when they manipulated user timelines to reduce positive expressions displayed by others “people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred.”

The results suggest that “emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks.” For a long time research on emotional contagion was premised on the need for in-person and nonverbal cues, this experiment suggests “in-person interaction and nonverbal cues are not strictly necessary for emotional contagion, and that the observation of others’ positive experiences constitutes a positive experience for people. the rest

How did Facebook manipulate news feeds to create emotional contagion? They relied on an automated system that identified positive or negative words based on an electronic dictionary. They then reduced the positive content in some users news feeds, finding that when the positive content was reduced, a larger percentage of words in people’s status updates were negative and a smaller percentage were positive. When negativity was reduced, the opposite pattern occurred.

Facebook's massive psychology experiment likely illegal
Researchers from Facebook, Cornell and UCSF published a paper describing a mass-scale experiment in which Facebook users' pages were manipulated to see if this could induce and spread certain emotional states. They say it was legal to do this without consent, because Facebook's terms of service require you to give consent for, basically, anything...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hobby Lobby cannot be compelled to furnish potentially abortion-inducing drugs to its employees by a 5-4 decision.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act allows for closely-held corporations like Hobby Lobby to maintain their religious outlook and still do business, the majority ruled in a 49-page opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito.

“The Court says that the government has failed to show that the mandate is the least restrictive means of advancing its interest in guaranteeing cost-free access to birth control,” according to the SCOTUSblog. “Justice Kennedy's concurring opinion says that the government could pay for the coverage itself, so that women receive it.”

Supreme Court Rules for Hobby Lobby in Religious Liberty Case Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Obamacare’s HHS mandate compelling religious employers to subsidize insurance for contraceptives and abortifacients. The owners of Hobby Lobby, who brought the case, are Evangelical and object to abortifacients...

Ed Stetzer: Hobby Lobby Wins: Where Do We Go from Here?
The U.S. Supreme Court has given the Obama administration (and, hopefully the world) a lesson in the first freedom. I'm sorry it was necessary, but it was—the government cannot (and must not) require people of faith to violate their sincerely-held beliefs...

Assembly 2014: Morning Prayer & Bible Teaching

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Supreme Court Protects Prolife Rights in Abortion Clinic Case ...Ruling unanimously, the Supreme Court chose to overturn a 2007 Massachusetts law that created a “buffer zone” banning pro-life demonstrators from standing on sidewalks and public streets within 35 feet of abortion clinics’ driveways and entrances. For the pro-abortion movement, this was a strategy used to silence peaceful pro-life prayer warriors, sidewalk counsels and protestors speaking up for the rights of unborn babies and the health of their expectant mothers.

As the Church, we should thank God this day for the Supreme Court’s steps to uphold citizens’ freedom of speech on public sidewalks and streets. We also pray that the nine Justices’ sentiments to uphold freedom of speech extends to our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion...

The court ruled unanimously that President Obama had violated the Constitution in 2012 by appointing officials to the National Labor Relations Board during a short break in the Senate’s work when the chamber was convening every three days in pro forma sessions. Those breaks were too short, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote in a majority opinion joined by the court’s four more liberal members... NYT

Cellphones are powerful devices unlike anything else police may find on someone they arrest, Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court. Because the phones contain so much information, police must get a warrant before looking through them, Roberts said...

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Jesus the Holy One is the humble one...

Jesus the Holy One is the humble one: the holiest will ever be the humblest. There is none holy but God: we have as much of holiness as we have of God. And according to what we have of God will be our real humility, because humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all. The holiest will be the humblest. ...Andrew Murray image

Peace breaking out all over at the ACNA Assembly

June 2014
by George Conger

The imminent demise of the Anglican Church in North America predicted since 2009 by commentators from the left in the Episcopal Church and the right in the Anglican Continuum is just not going to happen, Archbishop Robert Duncan said today.

“Critics said I was the only one who could hold it together. Not true!” the archbishop told reporters on 25 June 2014 at the ACNA’s 2014 Assembly held at St Vincent College in LaTrobe, Penna.

The election of a new archbishop to oversee the denomination, which has grown to 983 congregations and 112,000 members since its inauguration in Fort Worth in 2009, appears to substantiate Archbishop Duncan’s optimism. A difficult, and at times contentious, meeting of the House of Bishops to elect his successor held before the start of the 25-28 June 2014 gathering of delegates from the ACNA’s 29 dioceses and special jurisdiction, has served to unite the church’s leaders, those attending the conclave tell Anglican Ink.

Bishops attending the conclave have been asked not to share details of their deliberations, but public statements by Archbishop Duncan as well as background discussions with some participants paint a picture of a church that seeks to be faithful to its calling to re-evangelize North America... the rest

Assembly 2014: Eric Metaxas

Meriam Yahya Ibrahim: Arrested, Released, Re-Arrested, Re-Released

On June 23, 2014, Sudanese Christian Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, who had been sentenced to death by a Shariah court in Khartoum, was cleared of all charges by the Appeals Court and freed.

Today, while the world was still reacting with joy and surprise to the news of her release from prison, she and her husband, Daniel Wani, along with toddler son, Martin, and infant daughter, Maya, were re-arrested (some reports say “detained”) at the Khartoum airport while trying to leave the country. At approximately 3:10 pm ET this afternoon, the BBC reported that the family had been re-released and taken to a safe location. What is going on?

This is normal procedure for the Islamic Republic of Sudan. Deceptions, denials, and delays have kept the regime in business for decades. In this case, since Meriam was first arrested in September of 2013, all three of these tactics have been used against her, husband Daniel-- a South Sudanese Christian who is an American citizen-- and their children... the rest

Nigeria-more kidnappings; George Will vilified; National Cathedral's embrace of transgenderism...more

Lest Ye Be Judged: Pastor Dean has baptized 66 professional umpires, calling them safe in the only way that matters.
...Pastor Dean, as folks around baseball know him, is the leader of Calling for Christ, a nonprofit ministry that for the past 11 years has tried to ease the anguish of major league and minor league umpires by keeping them close to God. Esskew is 48 and enormous, with a booming, smoky drawl and his own cologne-scented weather. He ministers exclusively to umps, piling through stadium crowds with an awkward, hammering limp acquired years ago when a horse bucked him on the farm in Oklahoma where he lives with his wife. (Debrah Esskew runs a parallel ministry for umpires' wives and girlfriends.)...

George Will Vilified for Questioning Campus “Rape Culture”According to Vice President Joe Biden twenty percent of college women will be sexually assaulted over the course of their college life. Walk onto any college campus, and one out of every five women you see either has been or likely will be the victim of rape during her college years.Can you believe it? Well, if not, you aren’t the only one who’s skeptical. George Will recently landed himself in a hotbed of controversy by daring to question the accuracy of these statistics. In the aftermath of the public outcry, his column was canceled by the St Louis Post-Dispatch. Will’s column will continue to be syndicated nation-wide. In some respects it was encouraging to see that the campaign to vilify Will accomplished so little. It’s still unfortunate that pressuring conservatives to shut up now seems to many like the obvious way to deal with uncomfortable views..."People aren’t 'misunderstanding' what Will wrote. They deliberately misrepresented what Will said..." I think what is happening is more nefarious, because it focuses on the person. It's not just an idea that is put off limits (such as questioning the veracity of a woman who accuses a man of rape), it's the person who dares to say it. You are to be regarded as toxic. It's this fear of being regarded as toxic that inhibits many people from speaking.

Local media reported about 60 people were abducted in attacks on villages south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, between Thursday and Saturday.

The attack comes as more than 270 schoolgirls are still being held by Boko Haram more than two months after their abductions from a school in Chibok town in April. Several dozen of the girls managed to escape.

About 30 people were reported to have been killed by the extremists in the latest attack. Elderly residents fled their homes, trekking 15 miles to seek help...

In a special Sunday service marking Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride month, the cathedral hosted visiting guest preacher the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, who was born a woman but now identifies as a Trans-man.

Partridge was joined by retired Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly partnered homosexual bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion, who presided at the 11 a.m. service of Holy Eucharist...

Slingshot water purifier: It can save millions
...Using a process called vapor compression distillation, a single Slingshot can purify more than 250,000 liters of water per year, enough to satisfy the needs of about 300 people. And it can do so with any water source—sewage, seawater, chemical waste—no matter how dirty...Kamen calls the global water crisis a “Goliath” of a problem, which suggests that he is David. He offers a quick refresher on biblical lore: David, it bears remembering, defeated Goliath with a slingshot....

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Council 2014: Archbishop Duncan's State of the Church Address

Given at Provincial Council on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, by the Most Revd Robert Duncan, meeting at St. Vincent Archabbey and College, Latrobe, PA.

Those who sowed with tears, will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves. -Psalm 126: 6,7

We sowed in tears. We reap in joy.

It is five years to the day since I was invested as your Archbishop at Christ Church, Plano, Texas. It was a service of trust and hope in the context of many tears. Many of us had been exiled from—or were walking away from – the Church that had shaped and formed us. Many of us had lost – or were in the process of losing – buildings and friends, resources and relationships that were precious to us. Others just knew that where they were in their Christian journey was not yet where they needed to be and were prepared to risk what they had, trusting God for something better, though not yet realized.

There was both sadness and resolve in June of 2009. The context was weeping, but that did not stop us from planting seeds. It was springtime – planting time – and sorrows must not keep you – and did not keep us – from laboring in the trust that there would be a better day, and that a harvest would follow if we would – wounds and sorrows notwithstanding – faithfully plant. The Inaugural Provincial Assembly (of which that Plano Investiture was a part) – meeting at another St. Vincent’s (Bedford, Diocese of Fort Worth) – planted faithfully.

There were ten things the Lord moved me to call for on June 24, 2009:
a) Embracing our John-the-Baptist identity as Messengers/Forerunners… Anglicans
b) Growing in unity and charity – as the visible Body of Christ
c) Welcoming back the wounded/loving them/healing them/integrating them
d) Calling and equipping a new generation of leaders
e) Planting 1000 new churches in five years
f) Engaging Islam, secularism, and materialism with the Christian gospel
g) Loving the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and imprisoned
h) Blessing creative ministry responses
i) Getting Scripture by heart
j) Rejoicing and giving thanks in all circumstances.

Victory for Meriam, but not out of danger yet...

June 24, 2014
by Faith J. H. McDonnell

Excerpt:
...Meriam’s release is a great victory for religious freedom, but she is not out of danger yet. Her life is still threatened by the Islamists who first brought the accusations against her, including a man who claims to be her half-brother. It is now the responsibility of the U.S. government to protect the wife and children of American citizen, Wani, and to help them to return to Wani’s home in Manchester, New Hampshire.

In addition, the ideology of Shariah and jihad of the Islamists who threatened Meriam is the official ideology of the Sudanese government. This supremacist ideology still threatens the freedom, dignity, and very lives of all the Sudanese people. Meriam is the starfish flung back into the ocean when so many are stranded on the beach.

Khartoum’s Shariah court had sentenced Meriam to death by hanging for the crime of apostasy. Under Shariah she was considered a Muslim because her father was a Muslim, even though she grew up as a Christian under the care of her Ethiopian Orthodox mother. She was also sentenced to receive 100 lashes for adultery for her relationship with Daniel. Under Shariah, their marriage was not recognized because a Muslim woman cannot marry a Christian man. The death sentence had been postponed for two years, to give Meriam time to breastfeed baby Maya, but she could have been subjected to the lashes at any day now, if the appeal had not been successful.

Meriam’s attorneys submitted an appeal soon after the sentence was confirmed by the Shariah court on May 15 and had been waiting to hear the court’s judgment. According to Middle East Concern in a June 23 news release, “the Appeals Court overturned the conviction on procedural grounds, on the basis that the prosecution provided insufficient evidence to prove the claims against Meriam and that the defense had not been given adequate opportunity to cross-examine witnesses or provide their own witnesses.”... the rest

Conclave 2014: Raw Footage with Archbishop-Elect Foley Beach

TLC: Bp. Foley Beach to Lead ACNA
The Anglican Church in North America announces the June 22 election of its new archbishop by its 50-member College of Bishops, which met in conclave during the weekend:

The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America elected today the Rt. Rev. Dr. Foley Beach of the Diocese of the South. Bishop Foley Beach will succeed the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, the first archbishop for the Anglican Church in North America.

“The election occurred Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the College of Bishops’ three-day conclave where they met in the crypt of the basilica at Saint Vincent Archabbey,” said the Rev. Andrew Gross, Communications Director for the Anglican Church in North America. The new archbishop will serve a five-year term and is eligible for re-election...

American Anglican Council Welcomes Archbishop-elect Foley Beach

June 23, 2014

Atlanta, GA: The American Anglican Council welcomes the election of The Rt. Rev. Dr. Foley Beach as the next Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America. “Archbishop-elect Beach loves Jesus Christ and loves His Church,” said the Rev. Canon Phil Ashey, CEO of the American Anglican Council. “I have seen Bishop +Foley preach the good news of Jesus Christ, personally disciple others and lead his congregation with great passion and prayerfulness and we are thankful for his election.”

Archbishop-elect Beach has served on the American Anglican Council’s Board of Trustees for several years. His active participation has greatly helped the Council develop faithful leaders, equip the church for mission and renew orthodox Anglicanism.

“I’ve been privileged to watch and work with Foley in his ministry as rector of Holy Cross Anglican Church, then Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South and also on our Board,” said the Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, President and Chairmen of the American Anglican Council’s Board of Trustees. Bishop Anderson has recognized for many years Archbishop-elect Beach’s character and service-oriented heart. “When I was consecrated as a Bishop I asked Foley to be my chaplain and he graciously agreed. He not only prayed with me and offered advice but did the little things like help carry my robes. I appreciated his clear-headed demeanor and humble willingness to serve during those days and know the ACNA will appreciate these qualities also.”

About the American Anglican Council: Founded in 1996, the American Anglican Council is a nonprofit organization that is committed to DEVELOPING faithful lead­ers, RENEWING orthodox Anglicanism worldwide and EQUIPPING the church for mission. Find out more about this vital ministry atwww.AmericanAnglican.org.

Baptist Polity and the Integrity of the SBC; The Coming Methodist Split; PCUSA Allows Same Sex marriage...

The Southern Baptist Convention meeting last week in Baltimore was, in itself, a lesson in Baptist polity. The organizational structure of the Convention is directly drawn from Baptist principles, and those principles have been adapted to meet the new challenges faced by every generation.

In the last generation, the Convention responded courageously to the challenge of theological compromise, asserting both the right and the responsibility of the Convention to require confessional fidelity and theological integrity of its seminaries, mission boards, and other entities. That process culminated in the Convention’s revision of its confession of faith, The Baptist Faith & Message, in 2000. That revision included a clear statement of biblical inerrancy and a host of other truths that the Convention urgently affirmed.

In this generation, moral issues also require clear action by the Convention. Most urgently, the issue of homosexuality and same-sex relationships demand attention. In this case, the Convention’s confession of faith is very clear — it affirms marriage as the union of a man and a woman and it affirms the sinfulness of same-sex behaviors...

The Coming Methodist Split?
The United Methodist Church, with 7.4 million members in the United States, is America’s third largest church, despite having lost over 3.5 million members over the last 50 years. But now its debates over same sex marriage are threatening to fracture the denomination.

United Methodism is the largest of the historically liberal “mainline” Protestant denominations and almost the only one that has not surrendered traditional Christian teaching on sexual behavior. It officially defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, prohibits celebration of same-sex rites, and ordains only persons who are monogamous in natural marriage or celibate if single.

There’s one major reason United Methodists have not liberalized sexually like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Its membership is global, and on top of the 7.4 million (as of 2012) members in the U.S., it has over 4.5 million members overseas, mostly in Africa, where there are more than 4 million United Methodists. Even as the U.S. church loses nearly 100,000 members annually, the African church gains over 200,000 annually, in places like Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola. The DRC alone has more than 2 million United Methodists, and there may be more Methodists in church on a typical Sunday in the DRC, where attendance exceeds membership, than in the U.S., where the opposite is true...

Presbyterians Back Anti-Israel Divestment
..."It is revealing that Israel is the only country targeted for divestment, not countries that oppress, torture and execute dissidents, like Iran among many others."...

The Presbyterian Lay Committee released a statement repudiating the action of the PCUSA General Assembly.

"The Presbyterian Lay Committee mourns these actions and calls on all Presbyterians to resist and protest them ... God will not be mocked and those who substitute their own felt desires for God's unchangeable Truth will not be found guiltless before a holy God."...

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Foley Beach elected Archbishop of the ACNA

The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has elected the Rt. Rev. Foley Beach as its second archbishop in succession to the Most Rev. Robert Duncan.

Meeting in a private conclave at St Vincent College in LaTrobe, Penna., on 22 June 2014 ACNA’s bishops joined by the Primate of the Church of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali of Kampala, elected Bishop Beach by secret ballot.

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Beach was educated at Georgia State University, trained for the ministry at the University of the South and earned at Doctor of Ministry degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He served in the Diocese of Atlanta from 1992 to 2004, when he withdrew from the Episcopal Church following the consecration of V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. In 2004 Bishop Beach founded Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, Georgia. On 9 October 2010 he was consecrated as the first Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South.

Bishop Beach and his wife Allison have been married for over 30 years and have two children. Anglican Ink

LATROBE, PA (JUNE 21, 2014)——The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America elected today the Rt. Rev. Dr. Foley Beach of the Diocese of the South. Bishop Foley Beach will succeed the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, the first archbishop for the Anglican Church in North America.

“The election occurred Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the College of Bishops three-day conclave where they met in the crypt of the basilica at Saint Vincent Archabbey,” said the Rev. Andrew Gross, Communications Director for the Anglican Church in North America. The new archbishop will serve a five-year term and is eligible for re-election.

“I am delighted by this election and how the College of Bishops, after much deliberation and prayer, came to a unanimous decision,” said Archbishop Robert Duncan. “This is a happy day for the Anglican Church in North America, a happy day for the Anglican Communion, and a happy day for the Christian Church.”... ACNA website

Friday, June 20, 2014

ACNA Conclave opens

Jeffrey Walton: ACNA conclave opens amidst good news about membership growth
Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) have encouraging news as they convene this evening to begin the process of selecting a new leader: a growing flock. The fledgling denomination, launched in 2009, has seen membership grow by 13 percent to 112,504 members and attendance by 16 percent to 80,471 attendees.

The numbers contrast with the U.S.-based Episcopal Church that many ACNA members departed from, which has declined in its domestic dioceses from 2,006,343 members in 2009 to 1,894,181 members in 2012, the most recent reporting year. Episcopal Church domestic attendance declined from 682,963 in 2009 to 640,142 in 2012. The Episcopal Church Center usually releases updated statistics for the previous reporting year in the autumn.

In releasing statistics, the ACNA officials note that 74 percent of congregations completed reports. In an attempt to provide a complete picture, the denomination provides two statistical totals: “reported” figures and “projected” figures that substitute median averages for congregations that did not report. In the Episcopal Church, officials roll over previously reported statistics for non-reporting parishes until new ones are received. In the case of both the “reported” and “projected” figures, ACNA posts growth, which is strongest with the “reported” figures.

Archbishop Robert Duncan is concluding a five-year term as the denomination’s top official and will step down next week at the Anglican Provincial Assembly held June 25-28 at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. The province, which aspires to be a part of — but is not formally recognized by – the worldwide Anglican Communion, unmistakably bears the fingerprints of Duncan, a longtime leader in what has been referred to as the “Anglican Realignment.”

The outgoing leader has steered the Anglican Church towards aggressively planting new congregations, especially in urban centers and college towns. Since 2009, the church has seen a growth of 40 percent in net congregations, from about 700 to 983 in 2013. In contrast, church planting efforts in the Episcopal Church have nearly ground to a halt, with overall parishes dropping from 6,895 in 2009 to 6,667 in 2012... Thursday, June 19, 2014

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Freezing Tiny Human Beings
...The most obvious offense to their human rights is that the process of freezing and thawing the embryos leads to the death of many. A recent study indicated that 46 percent will not survive the freezing and thawing process. The two primary causes of death? Formation of ice crystals (freezer burn) or cytotoxicity (poison) from the cryoprotectant. As the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority has summarized, “Not all embryos will survive freezing and eventual thawing when they come to be used. Very occasionally no embryos will survive.” Many will lose one or two cells, with associated risks not fully understood. In short, the freezing and thawing process exposes them to serious risk of harm and death..

But even if the technology was perfected and no deaths would occur (an exceptionally unlikely scenario), these human beings are frozen against their will and not for their own good. Consent to such a procedure cannot be presumed because IVF and the freezing of embryos do not offer reasonable hope of success or great benefit for the embryo. They offer, rather, significant risks that are well above what might be reasonably considered normal. These risks are accepted because of a prior choice for IVF which is, itself, an irresponsible herculean intervention with overall embryo survival rates hovering around 5-20 percent...

Over 550 Christian girls kidnapped in Egypt since 2011 ...Since January, 2011 through March, 2014, over 550 Christian girls were kidnapped by Muslim men and forced to convert and marry their abductors, often after suffering violence at the hands of their kidnappers, according to the Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Disappearance (AVAFD).

Often before these forced marriages, the traditional cross the Coptic minority tattooes on their wrists was erased with acid, according to Terrasanta, a Catholic news service...

His name is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and he made the chilling remarks during his release of a U.S. detention camp in 2009. He wasn't considered much of a threat at the time, but now he is being called a true heir to Osama bin Laden...

Sudanese Christians plea for release of Meriam Ibrahim The Sudanese Council of Churches has called for the immediate release of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, the Christian woman sentenced to death last month for apostasy from Islam by a Khartoum court. In a 1 June 2014 statement given to the media, the SCC said the death sentence for apostasy and sentence of 100 lashes for adultery for having married a Christian is a “clear and direct persecution of Christians in Sudan”...

What the Democrats, including Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton, were saying on Iraq before the invasion

In case you haven’t heard, N.T. Wright—author of theology books such as Surprised By Hope and Simply Christian, and former Bishop of Durham—recently did an interview in which he compared people who support marriage equality to Nazis and Soviet Communists.

Nazis.

And Soviet Communists.

No. No, he didn’t. Not even close...

Homemakers are happier
...As recent research indicates, female homemakers tend to be happier than working mothers or wives. This is consistent with both the positive correlation we see between stay-at-home mothers and the stabilizing economy, as well as the negative correlation between stay-at-home fathers and the improved job market. If women really are happiest as homemakers, then we should expect that women will choose to stay at home when they are financially able to do so. Likewise, since men seem to largely be stay-at-home fathers not by choice, but due to economic pressures or related factors, we can speculate that, unlike mothers, fathers prefer to pursue employment outside of the home rather than being stay-at-home fathers when they are economically or financially able to do so...

Anglicans set to pick successor to Duncan

June 18, 2014By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There won’t be any white smoke coming out of the chimney, but they’re calling it a conclave, similar to a papal election.

Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America — a breakaway denomination formed by conservatives dismayed by liberal trends in the Episcopal Church and its Canadian counterpart — will gather at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe beginning Thursday to elect a successor to Archbishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, whose five-year tenure as its founding archbishop is concluding.

That vote is to be followed next week by policy deliberations and a wider denominational assembly with worship, speaking and other events. The organization will mark some strides from its ad hoc origins in the heat of conflict toward greater stability — the publications of a new catechism and prayer liturgies and the launching of several new congregations. the rest

Assyrian International News Agency reports that the Sunni group ISIS – also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – has gone on a rampage, looting and burning government buildings, raising its black flag and burning churches throughout Mosul, the capital of the Nineveh Province...

Cordileone is scheduled to be a featured speaker at the event, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which is consistent with his championing of Proposition 8 in 2008. Cordileone helped raise $1.5 million for the initiative, which intended to ban same-sex marriage in the state. He once said, "The ultimate attack of the evil one is the attack on marriage."...

The latest case of the virus has been confirmed by Tennessee officials as the resident of Madison County, has been tested positive for the virus. The officials, however, added that there was no transmission to other residents in the state...

WHAT IS FATHER'S DAY LIKE FOR A BOY RAISED BY LESBIANS?
...Therein lies the rub for the boy raised by lesbians. You grow up seeing a loving relationship between two women who have defined themselves against what you are, and against the man who gave you life. Father's Day becomes a black hole of time, a day you get through, trying to listen to everyone's stories about their dads without rolling your eyes. The happy ending that concluded my journey through a fatherless life is something I treasure and am grateful for. But I grieve for the many boys raised by lesbians who will never have the fortuitous twists that allowed me to reunite with Dad: the cancer, the empty room in his house, graduate school, my own inexplicable decision to send my brother home and call Dad instead.

If there is any day on which I feel the importance of opposing same-sex parenting, it's Father's Day by far. Lesbian moms should feel deep shame on this day, because they have done something terrible and cruel to their children by forcing them to grow up with a gaping void that their peers never feel. There are children whose fathers die, of course, but most often, these children have a tombstone to visit and their widowed mothers will sit them down and tell them sentimental tales about what their father was like. That's not like having a lesbian mom who can't bear the thought of your dad, the reflection of you as a male, sharing your home and actually being part of your life...

Phil Ashey+: Praying for a new ACNA archbishop

posted June 6, 2014

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, friends of the Anglican realignment,

The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) will gather to elect a new Archbishop beginning Thursday evening, June 19 and, if necessary, adjourning Sunday evening June 22. I am grateful for the Collect (above) that we have been able to pray during these recent weeks leading up to the election of a leader to succeed Archbishop Bob Duncan. I am also grateful for our Lord’s hand upon the ACNA, its growth under the inspired leadership of Archbishop Duncan, and our opportunity to celebrate both during Provincial meetings June 23-28 at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, PA.

There has been much speculation on the blogs regarding the possible candidates for Archbishop, the “handicapping” of their odds to succeed, and politicking for and against certain bishops, etc. I’m going to refrain from any further comment on all that, and to resist any temptation to prognosticate. Instead, I’d like us to take that Collect quite seriously and drill down deeper, asking ourselves the question: “What should we be praying for in a new Archbishop?” the rest

Pope Francis' address to the Archbishop of Canterbury

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” (Ps 133:1). Once again we meet, Your Grace, as co-workers in the Lord’s vineyard and fellow pilgrims on the path to his Kingdom. I welcome you and the distinguished members of your delegation, and I pray that today’s meeting will serve to strengthen further our bonds of friendship and our commitment to the great cause of reconciliation and communion between Christian believers.

The Lord’s question – “What were you arguing about on the way?” (Mk 9:33) – might also apply to us. When Jesus put this question to his disciples they were silent; they were ashamed, for they had been arguing about who was the greatest among them. We too feel ashamed when we ponder the distance between the Lord’s call and our meagre response. Beneath his merciful gaze, we cannot claim that our division is anything less than a scandal and an obstacle to our proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to the world. Our vision is often blurred by the cumulative burden of our divisions and our will is not always free of that human ambition which can accompany even our desire to preach the Gospel as the Lord commanded (cf. Mt 28:19).

The goal of full unity may seem distant indeed, it remains the aim which should direct our every step along the way. I find a source of encouragement in the plea of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism that we should advance in our relationship and cooperation by placing no obstacle to the ways of divine providence and by not prejudicing future promptings of the Holy Spirit (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 24). Our progress towards full communion will not be the fruit of human actions alone, but a free gift of God. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength not to grow disheartened and he invites us to trust fully in the power of his works.the rest

Plea for help from Canon White in Baghdad

11 Jun 2014
Andrew White

Dear Friends,

Things are so bad now in Iraq, the worst they have ever been. The Islamic terrorists have taken control of the whole of Mosul which is Nineveh the main Christian stronghold. The army have even fled. We urgently need help and support.

Please, please help us in this crisis.

Iraq is now in its worst crisis since the 2003 war. ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Group), a group that does not even see Al Qaida as extreme enough, has moved into Mosul, which is Nineveh. It has totally taken control, destroyed all government departments. Allowed all prisoners out of the prisons. Killed countless numbers of people. There are bodies over the streets. The army and police have fled, so many of the military resources have been captured. Tankers, armed vehicles and even helicopters are now in the hands of ISIS.

The area is the heartland of the Christian community. Most of our people come from Nineveh and still see that as their home. It is there that they return to regularly. Many Christian’s fled from back to Nineveh from Baghdad, as things got so bad there. Now the Christian centre of Iraq has been totally ransacked. The tanks are moving into the Christian villages destroying them and causing total carnage. The ISIS militants are now moving towards Kirkuk, major areas to the Oil fields that provide the lifeblood of Iraq. We are faced with total war that all the Iraqi military have now retreated from.

People have fled in their hundreds of thousands to Kurdistan still in Iraq for safety. The Kurds have even closed the border, preventing entry of the masses. The crisis is so huge it is almost impossible to consider what is really happening... the rest

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a statement Tuesday that the well-known Warsaw obstetrician Bogdan Chazan must choose the law over his faith after the doctor refused to perform an abortion on a fetus who reportedly had severe physical and brain abnormalities.

"Regardless of what his conscience is telling him, [a doctor] must carry out the law," Tusk said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. "Every patient must be sure that […] the doctor will perform all procedures in accordance with the law and in accordance with his duties."...

"If we are one church, we cannot act as if we are two. If, in reality, we are two churches, it may not be wise to pretend any longer that we are one," concludes a statement last month from 80 traditionalists from across the UMC, which has 7.7 million U.S. members. (An additional 4.4 million members are overseas.)...

Four Russian Bombers Flew Within 50 Miles Of The California Coast Four Russian strategic bombers triggered U.S. air defense systems while conducting practice bombing runs near Alaska this week, with two of the Tu-95 Bear H aircraft coming within 50 miles of the California coast, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) confirmed Wednesday...

“Very critical and even apocalyptic,” was an emailed description from Catholic Priest Najeeb Michaeel who signed off abruptly, saying armed extremists had surrounded the convent to which he had fled.

“Most of the inhabitants of the city have already abandoned their houses and fled into the villages,” wrote the Dominican friar. “Many thousands of armed men from the Islamic Groups of Da’ash have attacked the city of Mosul for the last two days. They have assassinated adults and children. The bodies have been left in the streets and in the houses by the hundreds, without pity...The cleansing of Iraq’s Christians is entering its end game

India: A looming new arena for religious persecution
...For India’s Christians, one the greatest dangers of the new Hindu nationalist government is the high probability of a national anti-conversion law. Shah reported that Modi “is on record expressing hostility to Christian conversion.” Sahar Chaudry of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in a later presentation, noted that state anti-conversion laws generally require that the government “assess the legality” of any particular conversion and provide for fines or imprisonment for those who “force, fraud or induce to convert another person.” They also violate international standards (such as Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees religious freedom), particularly in their requirement that the government assess the validity of conversions and also in favoring those converting to Hinduism and disfavoring those converting out of Hinduism. The definition of “forced conversion” is so broad in these laws, Chaudry said, that such a statement as “God will welcome you in His house at the end of days” can be interpreted as an effort at forced conversion. Religious charity can also be interpreted as forced conversion. She pointed out that a national law establishes “strict regulations” on donations from foreign Christian groups to their fellow Christians in India, a law which is consistently used to prevent Indian Christians from receiving such money. Shah also noted that anti-conversion laws “provide the context that legitimizes nonstate groups to pressure people who are seen as converting.”...

Why Did the IRS Give the FBI 1.1 Million Pages of Taxpayer Info from Non-Profits? ...
During the course of its probe into the IRS tea party targeting scandal, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it learned the tax agency sent 1.1 million pages of tax return data about 501(c)(4) organizations to the FBI just before the 2010 midterms, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

The IRS responded that it identified issues with 33 tax returns out of more than 12,000 that included confidential taxpayer information. The majority of those groups “do not appear to have any connection to political activity,” the IRS said.

The two Republicans said they are “extremely troubled by this new information, and by the fact that the IRS has withheld it from the Committee for over a year,” noting that despite two subpoenas the IRS has not “produced material relating to these 21 disks and all associated information.”...

The capture of Tikrit, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein, came hours after Sunni insurgents stormed the Turkish consulate in the northern city of Mosul and took 49 staff hostage, Turkish officials said.

Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, fell Tuesday to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an al Qaeda offshoot. It was the most significant territorial conquest for the radical group, which has also taken control of parts of Syria during the civil war...

According to the London Telegraph, a new law passed by the Danish parliament "make(s) it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages." No options, no exceptions, no choice. Homosexuals are to be married wherever they want, regardless of whose conscience is trampled and whose sanctuary is defiled in the process.

While an individual priest may not be compelled to perform such weddings, his bishop has been ordered (under threat of what?) to find a replacement for him so that the priest's church can be used. Thus an individual priest can no longer protect the spiritual integrity of his own house of worship.

How long will it be before American churches will be ordered, as a condition of maintaining their tax-exempt status, to host same-sex ceremonies? How long will it be before American pastors are ordered to perform them?...

The Real ObamaCare Numbers
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services disclosed that 6 million of the 8 million people who signed-up for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will be receiving healthcare from Medicaid that is so affordable it is free. The revelation that seventy-five percent of the expansion of health insurance is Medicaid comes just 48 hours after the Department of Health and Human Services said many of the other 2 million that had “purchased” insurance on HealthCare.gov“ may have received greater subsidies than merited or were allowed to purchase plans for which they were ineligible.” Given the huge influx in border crossings, it appears ObamaCare is continuing to enroll large numbers of illegal aliens...

A Right to Abort But Not to Give Birth? Peter Singer’s Extremism ...Then Singer compared women’s right to bear children to the traditional villager’s right to graze their cows on “common” grounds. As the villagers get more affluent and their cows die less from disease, he said, until the commons are overgrazed, ”yields are falling… and that’s a road to disaster.”

“Turns out that the right to graze as many cows as you like on the common was not an absolute right,” said Singer. “Obviously this is what I think we ought to be saying even about how many children we have… I hope we don’t get to a point where we do have to override it… but I don’t think we ought to shrink away from considering that as a possibility.”...

N.T. Wright on Gay Marriage

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

“Christ is building His kingdom with earth’s broken things...

“Christ is building His kingdom with earth’s broken things. Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. Heaven is filling with earth’s broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty. He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. He can lift earth’s saddest failure up to heaven’s glory.” ~JR Miller image

"Join us for the celebration of Holy Eucharist on the second Sunday after Pentecost [June 22]. The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge is the guest preacher and the Right Rev. Gene Robinson is the guest presider in honor of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community's Pride Month," a notice on the cathedral's website says...

It turns out they were lying. The cop did not, in fact, refuse to work the parade. He just didn't want to lead it. He was originally assigned to the motor team which serves as the vanguard of the parade.

That role would have essentially made him a participant in the parade, and created the impression he supported sodomy, something his deeply held religious convictions do not allow him to do. He requested a behind-the-scenes role in patrol, traffic control or other police duties. In other words, he was perfectly willing to do his job of protecting and serving. He just didn't want to be the poster cop of homosexual activism....

Some of the labeled signs were innocuous, according to KGTV. These included “smiled at,” “hugged” and “kissed.”

Other signs, such as “above the waist,” “below the waist” and “all the way,” were to varying degrees considerably less innocuous...

Abortion 'comedy' film "Obvious Child"
...Feminists like these movie-makers don’t see a moral dilemma. They see abortion as a natural part of the daily grind. You wake up, you get an abortion, you have a cheeseburger. The critics call this a “refreshing matter-of-factness” about abortion... I call it monstrous.

Why the Supreme Court could soon review regulations on chemical abortion
...Overall, the regulation does not ban the use of such life-ending drugs; it merely advances the state’s interest in protecting women’s health by directing abortion providers to use the drugs as restricted by the FDA. A federal district court in Arizona initially declined to issue a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law, meaning that the regulation could go to work protecting women while litigation over its constitutionality continued. Planned Parenthood appealed, and the Ninth Circuit reversed the lower court’s determination, preventing these health-and-safety standards from going into effect.

The decision released by the Ninth Circuit embodies what we have come to expect from that liberal court. It embraces weak arguments from Planned Parenthood and employs its own renegade analysis that is at odds with clear Supreme Court precedent....Va. Christian student wins free speech lawsuit; 23 college campuses agree to change policy A U.S. District Court has ruled in favor of an evangelical student, who was barred from preaching on campus without prior approval, ruling that outdoor areas of a Virginia Community College System comprising 23 college campuses are "venues for free expression."...